Application Platform News
Our latest news and commentary on applications, covering closed development platforms, SaaS vendors and related online services.
Alibaba’s Jack Ma makes first public appearance in three months
Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma made his first public appearance since October when he spoke to a group of teachers by video, easing concern about his unusual absence from the limeli...
Reliance to embed e-commerce app into WhatsApp within six months: Mint
Reliance Industries plans to market its e commerce app JioMart into WhatsApp within six months, financial website Mint has reported, as the Indian conglomerate looks to ramp up its...
Biden eyes ex-Obama team to ‘tackle’ antitrust issues
Two former Obama staffers have emerged as front-runners to the top antitrust job at the US Department of Justice under the incoming administration of Joe Biden, based on two source...
Parler’s website is back online, but the app still not in stores
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of the wildly popular social media platform Parler, which is popular with free speech advocates is back online in a strictly limited way. Th...
Microsoft and Cigna form coalition for digital records of COVID-19 vaccination
Microsoft Corp, health insurance Cigna Corp and Mayo Clinic are part of a coalition pushing for digital records of people who get vaccinated from COVID-19.
London resilient at top of European tech investment table despite COVID
London retained its position as the top European destination for tech venture capital in 2020, with levels near the record sum of the year before despite the impact of COVID-19, ac...
Amazon takes on Netflix in India with cheaper mobile-only Prime Video plan
Amazon.com has launched a lower-priced mobile-only subscription plan for the video streaming service in India, undercutting a similar plan by Netflix to woo price-sensitive subscri...
Apple, Amazon suspend Parler social network from App Store and web hosting service
Apple and Amazon have suspended Parler from their respective App Store and web hosting service, saying the social networking service popular with many right-leaning social media us...
UK’s competition watchdog to probe Google’s browser changes
The UK’s competition watchdog said on Friday it has launched an investigation to Google’s suggestions to get rid of third-party cookies and other functions from the Chr...
Comment: Dark times ahead if opposing voices are silenced
Rumours abound that internet browsers including Safari, Chrome and Firefox are going to blacklist a number of websites associated to outgoing President of the United States and his...
US suspends French tariffs over digital services tax
The United States has said it might hold off slapping tariffs on French cosmetics, handbags and other imports in retaliation for a digital services tax Washington says will damage ...
USTR slams India, Italy, Turkey on digital taxes but holds off on tariffs
Digital services taxation adopted by India, Italy and Turkey discriminate against US businesses and therefore are inconsistent with international tax rules, the US Trade Representa...
FBI probe of major hack includes project-management software from JetBrains
The FBI is investigating if the hackers supporting a series of intrusions in US national agencies and businesses also broke into project-management applications generated by the Cz...
Trump signs order banning transactions with eight Chinese apps including Alipay
President Trump has signed an executive order prohibiting trades with eight Chinese software applications, such as Ant Group’s Alipay, ” the White House stated, escalat...